Orpheus Club

Orpheus Club

Orpheus Club (Regina). Women's organization founded in 1915 as the Eva Clare Studio Club and known 1917-19 as the Clare Music Study Club. Renamed the Orpheus Club in 1919, it incorporated art, literature, and architecture in its study program. It has at times supported a string quartet and a choir. By 1991 membership (at first restricted to music teachers but later extended to other musically accomplished and interested persons), had dwindled to about 20, and meetings previously held every two weeks, during the fall, winter, and spring were held on a monthly basis. The club has continued to present two awards annually through the Saskatchewan Music Festival with funds raised through membership fees: the Ethel Barr Memorial Scholarship (formerly the Orpheus award established in 1940 in memory of the club's first president), and the Orpheus String Scholarship. Previous winners have included June Kowalchuk (1941) voice, William Pengelly, Stuart Hamilton (1948), and Catherine Vickers (1959) piano; Francis Hyland (1943) and John Vernon (1953) drama; and Malcolm Lowe (1965) violin. In 1991 the winners were How Chow (piano) and Christine Choi (strings).The club's president was Margaret Pederson.